Paige
Saraya-Jade Bevis (born 17 August 1992) is an English professional wrestler currently signed to WWE where she performs under the ring name Paige. Bevis made her debut in 2005 in the World Association Of Wrestling, a promotion that her family runs, as Britani Knight. She went on to hold several championships on independent circuits within Europe. In 2011, she signed a contract with WWE and started wrestling within its developmental systems. Paige eventually debuted on WWE's main roster in April 2014. She was the inaugural NXT Women's Champion of the company's developmental branch NXT and also a two-time WWE Divas Champion, at one point holding both titles concurrently from 7 April 2014 – 24 April 2014. In November 2014 she was ranked number one in the Pro Wrestling Illustrated Female 50. Singles competition (2006–2011) Bevis was trained at the WAW Academy by her family, Klondyke Kate and Jason Cross. She made her debut in 2006 for World Association Of Wrestling (WAW) when she teamed up with her mother, Sweet Saraya and lost to Destiny and The Pink Lady, Kharisma and Pixie were also involved.10 During her time at WAW she would team up with and take on various members of her close family. In December 2007, Knight took part in a tournament where the winner would become the first WAWW British Champion, she made it all the way to the final but was eliminated by Jetta.11 Knight would also lose a fatal four way match for the championship which included Jetta, Sweet Saraya and her former tag team partner, Melodi.10 In August 2008, Knight lost a three way match to Jetta where the winner would become the number one contendor to the RQW Women's Championship.10 On 31 August 2009, Knight defeated her mother, Sweet Saraya, in a best of three match to become the WAWW British Champion. In the rematch the result was the same, two pinfalls for Knight and one for Saraya.10 In 2010, she took part in one night ladies tournament which she won by defeating Sweet Saraya.10 Once again, she took on Saraya but this time it was for the HEW Women's Championship and this time Saraya won.10 On 11 November 2011, Knight won an elimination match to become the first WAWW Hardcore Champion.10 However, her jubilation was to be short lived as she lost the WAWW British Championship a few days later to Liberty.11 The Norfolk Dolls (2006–2008)edit Bevis, using the name Britani Knight, would begin to team up with Melodi to form the Norfolk Dolls.12 In their first match together in June, they lost to Nikki Best and The Pink Lady. The Norfolk Dolls would go on a large winning streak, if you discount handicapped matches, remaining undefeated until the beginning of 2007 in tag team competition.12 During this time they would compete not only for WAW but also Premier Promotions and others.12 At World Association Of Women's Wrestling, the female only side project of WAW, the Norfolk Dolls defeated the Legion of Womb to become the first WAWW Tag Team Champions, they held the championship for about a year before vacating it.12 Their final match together as a tag team took place in French promotion International Catch Wrestling Alliance where they lost to Bulla Punk and Sweet Saraya.12 Pro-Wrestling: EVE (2010–2011) Bevis, using the ring name Britani Knight, made her debut for the European all-female promotion on 8 May 2010, along with her mother Saraya Knight. She did not start well for the promotion; although she appeared in the main event at the first taping, she lost to Greek wrestler Blue Nikita.13 She also lost to Jetta in what was purportedly her opponent's last tour of wrestling.13 On 16 October 2010 she had her first win against Shanna. On 8 April 2011 she participated in a two-night tournament to crown the first ever Pro-Wrestling: EVE Champion. In the first night, she won a Last Chance Battle Royal, then defeated Jenny Sjödin in the quarter final match. The next day, she defeated Jetta in the semi-final match, and later in the finals defeated Nikki Storm to win the Pro Wrestling EVE Championship.14 On 4 June 2011 at the XWA War On The Shore 7 show, she lost the Pro Wrestling EVE Championship to Sjödin.15 Shimmer Women Athletes (2011) Bevis (again billed as Britani Knight) made her United States wrestling debut for the all-female promotion Shimmer Women Athletes on 26 March 2011, at the tapings of Volume 37, alongside her mother and tag team partner Saraya Knight. She and her mother (billed as the Knight Dynasty) were managed by the returning Rebecca Knox and made an open challenge, which was answered by Nikki Roxx and Ariel. The Knight Dynasty won the match via disqualification after Saraya tried to hit Ariel with brass knuckles and Ariel grabbed them and got caught hitting Saraya with them.16 Later that same day, at the tapings of Volume 38, the Knight Dynasty unsuccessfully challenged the Seven Star Sisters (Hiroyo Matsumoto and Misaki Ohata) for the Shimmer Tag Team Championship.16 Prior to reporting to Florida Championship Wrestling (FCW), Knight took part in her final Shimmer tapings on 1 and 2 October 2011. After several losses, which included the Knight Dynasty again failing to win the Shimmer Tag Team Championship, Saraya slapped Knight. This resulted in Knight brawling with her mother, before challenging her to a match.1718 On Volume 44, Knight wrestled her final Shimmer match, defeating Saraya in a No Disqualification match.18 WWEedit Bevis received try-outs with World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) in November 2010 and April 2011.19 In September 2011, it was reported that Bevis had signed a contract with WWE and would report to their developmental territory, Florida Championship Wrestling (FCW).20 World Wrestling Entertainment Developmental territories (2012–2014) Bevis made her debut for FCW at a house show on 5 January 2012, using the ring name Saraya. Bevis' ring name was then changed to Paige as she made her television debut in a backstage appearance on the 26 February episode of FCW TV. From March 2012, Paige formed an alliance with Sofia Cortez, dubbing themselves as the Anti-Diva Army. On the 19 March episode of FCW TV, Paige made her televised in-ring debut in a tag team match alongside Cortez, which the duo lost to Audrey Marie and Kaitlyn. Paige and Cortez then formed a brief association with Rick Victor. On the 6 May episode of FCW TV, Paige pinned Raquel Diaz, the FCW Divas Champion in a non-title triple threat match, which also involved Audrey Marie. This earned Paige a title shot against Diaz on the 27 May episode of FCW TV, where Diaz's chicanery led to Paige being disqualified and Diaz retained her title. Dissension was teased within the Anti-Diva Army as Paige moved on to feud with Audrey Marie; Paige lost to Marie on the 10 June episode of FCW TV after Cortez interfered against her, signalling the end of the alliance.23 On the 1 July episode of FCW TV, Paige was disqualified during a match with Marie.28 On the final episode of FCW TV on 15 July, Paige and Marie ended their feud with Marie victorious in a no disqualification match. WWE went on to rebrand its developmental territory, FCW, into NXT Wrestling. Paige's NXT television debut took place on the third episode of the rebooted WWE NXT taped at Full Sail University, where she lost to the evil Sofia Cortez. From September 2012, after gaining a large surge in crowd support,3334 Paige would go on a singles winning streak defeating the likes of Audrey Marie,35 Sasha Banks, Emma, Aksana,36 and notably multiple wins over former WWE Divas Champion Alicia Fox. On the 30 January episode of NXT, Paige defeated Aksana in singles action. After the match, Paige was attacked by evil ring announcer Summer Rae due to Rae's jealousy of Paige's popularity and success. On the 13 February episode of NXT, a vengeful Paige interrupted a scheduled match to attack Rae, but suffered a shoulder injury in the process, which Rae exploited later that episode to defeat Paige in a match. Paige returned to NXT on the 13 March edition, following a match between rival Summer Rae and Emma, and cleared Summer from the ring. On the 3 April episode of NXT, Paige teamed with Sasha Banks to defeat Summer Rae and Audrey Marie after Summer walked out on Audrey Marie. On the 17 April episode of NXT while Paige was challenging Summer to a match, Summer attacked Paige backstage & accepted the challenge. Paige finally faced off in singles competition against Rae in a singles match on the 1 May episode of NXT, where Paige emerged victorious despite Rae's pre-match attack on Paige during her entrance. On the 15 May episode of NXT, Paige attempted to distract Rae but failed in the process Rae emerged victorious.40On 5 June, edition of NXT, Paige defeated Tamina Snuka in first round to advance to the semi-finals in the NXT women's championship tournament.41 On the 3 July episode of NXT, Paige defeated Alicia Fox with the Paige Turner to advance in the NXT Women’s Championship tournament. On the 24 July episode of NXT, Paige defeated Emma to be crowned the first-ever NXT Women's Champion. Paige made her first successful title defense on the August 14 episode of NXT, defeating Summer Rae. In the following months, Paige teamed up with Emma to feud with Summer Rae and Sasha Banks. On the December 4 episode of NXT, Paige successfully defended her title against Natalya. At NXT Arrival on February 27, Paige defeated Emma via submission to retain the title. NXT General Manager JBL stripped Paige of her Women's Championship, stating it wasn't fair to NXT for one of their champions to be traveling the world also defending a WWE championship. Paige at first refused, but eventually gave in, vacating the title without having been pinned to lose it. Her reign ended at 308 days. Divas Champion and Heel Turn (2014–present) Paige debuted on the main roster on the post-WrestleMania Raw on 7 April 2014; she congratulated WWE Divas Champion AJ Lee on her successful title defense at WrestleMania XXX. AJ challenged Paige to an impromptu match with AJ's championship on the line, which resulted in Paige quickly defeating AJ to capture her first Divas Championship. This directly resulted in Paige becoming the youngest WWE Divas Champion in history at age 21, and the first WWE wrestler, male or female, born in the 1990s to win a championship on the main roster. As Paige also held the NXT Women's Championship at the time, she was the only female double champion in WWE history. Paige had her first successful title defense on the 28 April episode of Raw when her impromptu match with Brie Bella which went to a no contest due to an interference from Kane. At Extreme Rules six days later, Paige had her first successful pay-per-view title defense against Tamina Snuka. She would later feud with Alicia Fox and defeat her in numerous singles matches before finally losing to Fox on the May 19 edition of Raw from Paige's home country of England. At Payback on June 1, Paige successfully retained the Divas Championship against Fox. On the June 5 episode of Superstars, Paige defeated Cameron in a non-title match stemming from a segment at the Payback press conference where Cameron interrupted Paige. During the match, Cameron began displaying signs of a heel turn. On the June 16 episode of Raw, Paige defeated Cameron again in a match made after Cameron confronted and slapped Paige in a WWE App segment. The following night on Main Event, Paige was defeated by Naomi in a non-title singles match, and was attacked by Cameron after the match ended. Paige later brawled with Cameron and shook hands with Naomi. Paige defeated Cameron for the third time on the June 27 edition of SmackDown, and was later attacked by Cameron after the match ended. After Naomi tried to separate the two, the villainous Cameron shoved Naomi into Paige, causing tension between them. At Money In The Bank, Paige defeated Naomi to retain the Divas Championship. On the following night on Raw, Paige was interrupted by the returning AJ, who challenged her to an impromptu Divas Championship match, which Paige reluctantly accepted. Paige lost the Divas Championship to AJ, while unleashing a heel persona during the match. Paige would act nice to AJ and team with her in several tag team matches in the weeks leading to their title encounter, which they won. However, at Battleground, Paige was unsuccessful in her title opportunity against AJ. On the July 21 edition of Raw, Paige and AJ teamed up again to defeat Emma and Natalya in a tag team match, and she called AJ back to the ring to celebrate her. When AJ's back was turned, Paige delivered a vicious attack to AJ in and out of the ring, while later skipping away to further mock AJ, turning Paige into a villainess. Paige continued to claim that she and AJ were friends after her attack, right before she defeated Naomi four days later on SmackDown. After she was attacked by AJ on Raw, the evil Paige attacked AJ on the August 1 edition of SmackDown and gave her whiplash when she shoved her off the entrance ramp. These events led to a title rematch at SummerSlam, which Paige won to capture her second Divas Championship. At Night of Champions, however, Paige lost the Divas Championship back to AJ Lee in a Triple Threat Match that also included Nikki Bella. Paige aligned with Alicia Fox in the weeks leading to her title rematch at Hell In A Cell, which she also lost. On the following evening's edition of Raw, Paige attacked Fox and blamed her for the loss to AJ, ending the alliance. At Survivor Series, Paige led her team, which consisted of Layla, Summer Rae, and Cameron in a losing effort to Fox, Natalya, Naomi, and Emma in a traditional elimination tag team match; Paige was last one on her team to be eliminated, courtesy of Naomi.